Mega Banks Score Big Profits from Oppressive Overdraft Fees

Consumers least able to pay bear brunt of excessive service fees

Photo by Johny vino on Unsplash

As America’s largest banks testified before committees in the U.S. House and Senate this week, a new analysis by Accountable.us notes these same banks are profiting handsomely off of overdraft fees. Additionally, the nation’s big banks are increasingly embroiled in suits over defrauding customers.

Ahead of the testimony, a new analysis from Accountable.US has found that in the first half of 2022, just three of these “mega banks” — Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase — have together reported over $37 billion in net income while reaping $7.8 billion in revenue from service charges on consumers’ deposit accounts, including over $1.6 billion from overdraft fees. Meanwhile, these three banks have spent $25.7 billion on stock buybacks and shareholder dividends, representing 69.4% of their net income over this same period.

I’ve written before about the billions in revenue generated each year from bank overdraft fees.

Will Overdraft Fees Become a Thing of the Past? | by Andy Spears | Medium

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